How to Calculate Travel Expenses

Taking some time away from the chaotic deadlines at work or the everyday rigors at home is supposed to be a break to allow for relaxation and to unwind. Unfortunately for most of us who have planned a trip away the process itself can be just as stressful and frustrating as the things we are trying to get away from.

We all need some time once in a while to decompress from our everyday lives. For some people it is just a couple of days at home instead of running into the office, for others they may dream of taking a trip somewhere to enjoy their off time.

The good news is there are a few tricks that you can try to actually make everything a little bit easier, especially when it comes to figuring out how much your vacation will actually cost you.

One of the easiest ways out there to know exactly what you are going to spend is to look for deals that bundle everything together in one tidy little package. Many of the travel websites we all see commercials for have this as an option; they even pitch it as a way to save money since you are getting everything through them.

This is not only convenient by allowing you to book everything at one place but it will probably help you down the road if there are any problems with your trip, since you used one place for your flight, hotel and car.

These deals should list all of the primary charges but not necessarily all of the secondary ones. They might mention the taxes but possibly not any parking fees at the hotel; it is a wise move to read the fine print of the deal before clicking that final button to purchase the deal.

Speaking from experience always read the fine print, terms of conditions or anything else they throw in at the end of the transaction. Sometimes they are money related but I have even seen hotels not “guaranteeing” a non-smoking room even though that is what you already selected. If you are a non-smoker it is not a memorable experience to walk into a smoking room on day one of a vacation, it can set the whole trip off on the wrong foot and you might struggle to recover.

Getting a rental car can be a small cost or a big one; ironically the costs go up when you jump up to the next sized vehicle. I’m not suggesting you get the smallest tin can they have but don’t get that monster SUV if you really don’t need it. I’m over six feet tall and I can fit into a midsized vehicle without any problems.

Many companies will document all of the charges on the rental agreement, including taxes and any additional fees. Having these charges listed ahead of time will help you know exactly what the charges will be. Don’t forget to include your gas costs as well. A simple calculation of the vehicles mileage and how much driving you will be doing will give you a good estimate.

It will be an automatic reflex reaction to reject their offer to fill up the vehicle for you. Most of the time it is not worth it but I have rented cars where the cost they charged customers to fill up was less than the local gas stations. Jumping online the day before your trip, or using some of the apps out there, will give you an idea about gas prices so if they are going to charge you less than a gas station would take them up on their generosity.

Think twice about getting their rental coverage too. Getting all of the options can add twenty dollars, or more, to the per day charges and over a few days that adds up. Instead talk to your credit card companies about what kind of coverage they offer if you use their card for the car rental. Many of them offer very respectable coverage for free or a much smaller amount then what you can get at the rental counters.

Typically your hotel will be the second largest expense on a trip, next to flights. I usually don’t get caught up looking at the bigger named hotels because their big names can come with big costs.

We usually do our homework leading up to a vacation to see what areas we want to be in because it is no fun feeling trapped in your room after sunset, just to save a few bucks. Scanning the various websites for deals is usually a good idea too because sometimes you can find really good rates out there.

Don’t overlook hotels that offer meals and factor that into your analysis. If one location has hot breakfast that is one cost you don’t have to incur at a restaurant. A full hot breakfast might be worth the extra few dollars they charge instead of going out, which will be a much larger expense.

Airfare can be an expensive part of your travel, especially for a family but there are ways to get around it if you are willing to look and plan ahead; one of the worst things you can do is book a flight within the last two weeks because that is when airlines historically increase their fares.

If you have some flexibility in your travel schedule see what the airlines are offering because it might be way cheaper to fly on a Tuesday instead of the weekend.

For my family we got a credit card that offered a very good miles program so for our future vacations we wouldn’t have to budget for major airfare costs. We use cards for all kinds of purchases out there so if we, as consumers, can get a little reward in return why not take advantage of it?

To put this into perspective our family vacation this year will be just shy of two weeks in New York and Washington DC. Using our miles we accumulated over the last year we had all four of our flights from California to the east coast and back covered 100%. All we had to pay was the normal airport and security fees; our out of pocket costs were sixty dollars. Not too bad when the flights would have cost us twelve-hundred dollars without the miles.

It is very easy to get buried in all of the numbers while budgeting for a trip. I usually write down everything I have found with as much detail as I need to remember where I found the deal.

After researching everything I then have a good handle on what my costs will be.

Some costs are hard to know ahead of time so you will need to budget for them like daily meals and souvenirs. Again use the internet to help you determine what kind of costs you will have to endure for food, that way you can set an approximate number per day and per person for the trip.

Combining everything will give you a good idea of what your costs will be for the complete trip. It will help you save up before you go away to help ease the sting of paying out a large sum to cover your travel expenses all at once.